Why you should use an accountant rather than software for your tax returns

Why you should use an accountant rather than software for your tax returns

24th September 2015

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Whether you’re an individual who has income that hasn’t had tax deducted (e.g. due to money gained through a rental property) or are a business owner, HMRC will require you to file a tax return. Some do it themselves, some use software and others use an accountant. Here is why an accountant is the best option.

Some use tax software because it can be cheaper than hiring an accountant, particularly if there is a free trial period during which you don’t actually need to pay anything. This kind of software does provide some advice and help when it comes to filling out the forms but is mainly useful for those with a financial background or who understand the forms that they need to file.

While tax software may be useful, it does have its limitations. Depending on the type of software, it may not actually be doing anything that you can’t do yourself, especially if it is a cheap version, and may not even offer the facility of checking over your return for basic errors. While a good piece of software will be able to check your manual inputting, no software will be able to find you ways to save money and reduce your tax bill nor, the chances are, will you be able to pick up the phone and speak to someone about your return.

In comparison, using an accountant has many more advantages compared to doing the return yourself or using software, particularly if yours isn’t straightforward to complete. While the cost of an accountant may be what is putting you off, the chances are that they will be able to save enough money on your tax bill to cover their fees. An accountant will also be completely up to date with the latest laws, rules and regulations that mean they will know every legal way to keep your tax bill to a minimum.

Furthermore, they know all of the deadlines in place and will be able to remind you if they haven’t received everything they need to ensure that the deadline is met. They will also complete the return correctly and fully, not only saving you the time and effort of doing so but also giving you complete piece of mind that everything has been done correctly first time round. Finally, businesses are able to deduct the cost of the accountant from next year’s return as an expense plus, because a professional has completed the return, it will give you more credibility should you be audited.

If you’re looking for an accountant to help you with your returns, either as an individual or a business, then get in contact with Johal and Company today to find out how they will be able to help.